Ducks showing signs of fatigue

The postseason can be exhausting, and playing four games in seven nights going from an emotional Game 7 to wrap up one series to the Western Conference finals is starting to take a toll on the Anaheim Ducks.

Playing the Nashville Predators inside the NHL’s toughest arena in nearly 20 years sure isn’t helping.

Coach Randy Carlyle said Wednesday his Ducks just ran out of gas after taking a 1-0 lead Tuesday night in Game 3. The Predators scored twice in the third, not counting two goals waved off for goalie interference, and pulled out a 2-1 victory for a 2-1 lead in the Western finals.

Carlyle said he thought his Ducks were flat. A schedule that had Anaheim starting this series less than 48 hours after ousting Edmonton in a deciding seventh game has something to do with that.

“You look back and you say, ‘Hey, we played Game 7 a week ago today,’ ” Carlyle said Wednesday. “You know, so that’s four games in six nights or seven nights. And then you get more of an understanding of the intensity and the drainage that does take place on your people.”

Then there’s the challenge of playing in Nashville, where the Predators just earned their 10th straight playoff win dating to last season.

It’s the NHL’s longest streak since Detroit won 10 straight in 1997-98 after Colorado went 11-0 in 1996-97. The Predators are just the 10th team to win at least 10 straight at home in the playoffs since the NHL expanded in 1967-68. It’s the 15th time an NHL team has ran off 10 consecutive playoff wins at home.

Nashville started this last year against the Ducks. Anaheim won the first two games in Nashville by a margin of 7-1 before the Predators won Game 6 in taking the firstround series in seven.

They haven’t lost since, winning the first six at home this postseason despite being the last team in the West into the playoffs as the second wild card.

Game 4 is tonight.